Saturday, December 22, 2007

While that's certainly his prerogative, I thought for sure a couple of the assistants would be retained. But none? Not even to keep a little continuity? Wow (According to the Detroit News article linked above, O-Line coach Steve Stripling may be rehired).

A house cleaning such as this really drives home that the Bo-Mo'-Lloyd Era at Michigan is no more. I can only hope that's a good thing.

i think this is exactly what the program needed. while by no means is UM "starting over," they are just getting a fresh start with new personnel?

maybe those ARE the same things. but i'm sure you guys understand what i mean.

they needed a whole new coach staff is what i'm saying. who better to get UM football in the 21st century than the guy who pretty much invented the spread and his coaches who know RR's system better than anyone?

He might rehire some of the staff. I think that this might be standard protocol. Either way, I don't like it.

We need Fred Jackson and Scot Loeffler. They're great recruiters and they have developed some important players. Same with the WR coach. And Ron English is a great coordinator (I don't care what any of you say). We also need continuity. It's good for the tradition and easy for the players. Hopefully he'll have enough sense to rehire them.

I don't see English staying on, but I agree, I think he's a good d-coordinator. The Stack is interesting, but I'd love to see our D as it was plus a little more of an attacking style (BRING IN TENUTA!!!) Just don't see it happening. There's an amazing article about the Stack floating around, it has like 19 diagrams in it or something, I'll post a link if i run across it. Seems versatile, but all the change is starting to shock my system.

Loeff always impressed me. Wish he'd never blown his shoulder out, that guy would've been an amazing QB, possibly Brady-ish. I think the he'll definitely land on his feet somewhere else, but I wonder what impact that'll have on Mallet.

Sru, he called Pryor before he took the job, and before he told his players at WV. Timing thing I'm sure. Not sure why he'd be calling Pryor before anythiing about the assistants. That just smacks of talk-radio and interweb rumor.

Sorry, no time to read all the comments. Please, can we not freak out about this? He said in his press conference that he would not retain anyone, and would possibly rehire. This is a new era, trust might be something that will help us get through it without jumping off the side of a building. The first step to rehire is to fire.......I for one would like to see some of the coaches rehired, but I am not the head coach, and I do not know what he needs in a staff. Anyway.....keeping calm might just be the thing to do here.

Sorry, but I think this is GREAT! First, it's good for the fired assistants- if you're losing your job, far better to find out today so you can start looking now. Waiting two weeks would have helped none but R2.

Second, this staff has lost 14 games (& counting) in 4 seasons. Frankly, none deserve to be kept.

Finally, all this crying about "michigan tradition" is overwrought. If R2 didn't already have SOME feel for it, he would have stayed @ wvu OR taken the Bama job last year. He came here 'cause we're special.

You can read about Yost or Bo in a book. You can learn about the importance of academics from Martin. The "tradition" this staff knows- weak D, obvious play calling, & soft weight training? Who wants to keep that?

It's kinda sad, you guys. The football complex feels like a funeral home. Not only is all the equipment and stuff being packed up (on like 3 semis)for the bowl game, but the staff is also packing their offices up.....How can you prepare for a bowl game knowing that after that you have no job, no office, no where to go to work with all your buds for the past 10+ years etc?Coach Jackson is the only one left standing. How awkward for him right now, given that everyone else is leaving?

And I worry about what we all know as "the tradition". While it's true you can read it in a book and "talk story" with others, unless you lived it, it's hard to respect, appreciate, and FEEL it.It's like the mom and pop company just got bought out by the big corporate entity....might be better for business, but the whole "feel" of the place will be off.new faces.new culture.no direct ties to the institutional memory.

i dunno, maybe i'm too nostalgic, but i think we are failing to realize the complete culture change that is coming.....

This was to be expected. How many of Bump Elliott's coaches stayed on for the 1969 season ?

Coach Carr knew what he was doing when he got all his coaches 2 year contracts last year. He knew what he was doing when he decided to retire in November rather than wait until after the bowl. They are all grown men and will find new gigs.

Although I think this will have a murderous effect on their bowl performance - It is time to try something new.

T-9,I have no doubt that The Sweatervest is now an Ohio state guy through and through. I'm sure Lloyd and a great many Michigan Men will be around in an effort to remind these guys of the M tradition, and before we know it they'll have become Michigan Men themselves. If not, well, Les will be available I'm sure, as this won't be a mistake made twice (though I'm thoroughly excited by the prospect of Ninja Football and expect it won't be a mistake).

With their resumes I fully expect the assistants to have new jobs come fall, (and a double paycheck to boot) so there'll be new offices and new players to be taught. The colors may change, but it's really the passion we all crave anyway; the smell of the air in late fall, the sound of the pads and the roar of the crowd, taunting Whets, and the feel of a flask in your back pocket. Just be careful of those flasks, or you might be taunting it and have the feel of Whets in your back pocket- and no one wants that!

PS- WTF happened to Navy? And when are you guys road-tripping to E.L.? Watching football in the presence of so many Spartans is having a scary effect on my psyche, like losing might be acceptable or something.

Before the '05 season, SI described us the most surprisingly successful incestious program in sports. Bo made assistants into head coaches. Lloyd made 'em into lifers.for the younger guys, getting out of Lloyd's mediocre system & learning new things other places is the best thing that will ever happen to them.

I realize there's a human side to change. But isn't thatthe human side of losing? You lose to App St? How in the hell can you say you should be heldover?

Is there anyone here, if their track record @ their jobs were equivalent to this staff's over the last 7 years, who would expect to still have their job? And as for the long term effects on "culture", let's remember how we got it.Let's all go & read "Bo" again. Listen to him talk about the early days after his hiring,how everyone shuddered @ the changes he made, how he was told "his way" would never work in A2.

Think about how "those who stay..." came to be in the first place (it wasn't because players were threatening to stay in the face of his changes, was it?), and let's reflect that THIS is how Bo did it.

my point was that the 3-3-5 works better against passing teams with the extra dback but is succeptible to the run. the big ten loves to run. therefore the 3-3-5 most likely will not lead to a #4 ranking for a big ten team.

Sru, ok- THAT actually is a good point (careful- you're beginning say reasonable things, which I find suspicious). However, I'm going to take it on faith that he'll watch some film before he preps for Wisco. He's well known for flexibility & adaptation. Besides, we've been torched so horribly by spread teams & passing, I'm willing give anything a try.

T9,Didn't mean to be quite so Grinch like, but a day of xmas shopping & not being able to find anything that isn't red & grey has left me ill tempered. Also, 20 years of living amongst the heathens have left me cold hearted.

And the 13 year old daughter says definitely Tom. Says Beckham is as over as the Spice Girls!

ok--back to the 3-3-5 stack.as I understand it, the linebackers are KEY as they have to be able to read on the fly and check into the coverage based on what the backs are doing and where the wide-outs are. If a linebacker is too slow, or over-perues...BIG yards.And, the DBs behind them have to play man???

with our current personnel?seriously?how on earth are we gonna succeed on that one???

let's run some scenarios...I-back set: full back clears the first linebacker thru and tail back hits the hole, who's there to cover behind him???Play action pass: linebackers bite, DBs get juked, bang bang your dead.

ya need fast, strong, smart linebackers for this to work, right??and lightening fast DBs that can make up difference in case they get smoked or cover the hole the LB left in front of them....

I was thinking your strong safeties were key, and acted like db/lb hybrids. Not unlike Troy Polamalu. They have to be fast enough to cover a back coming out of the backfield or blitz, and strong enough to contain and be able to defend against the run. Seems to me it's versatile in being able to play zone or man, you definitely cannot have many missed assignments or your screwed.

And you're definitely right in the need for fast, smart, strong LBs. It seems to me this defense has been created out of necessity much like the wacko ninja offense, and depends on guys being able to cover their "spot" on the field, disrupt the play and other guys flying to the ball. If we don't learn how to tackle better we're given up 40 pts a game easy.

Lol, and I think you may have scared some of the guys away with your analysis. Haven't heard a girl talk football like that since a friend of mine who had two brothers play linebacker at Florida State. Watching her tear guys apart at the bar was a riot.

I'm still voting for a more aggressive version of our current D. Come on, please?!!!!

No football here tonight, Jeff Dunham on the comedy channel. My boys don't like CFB (wtf?) They only like pro and it is a re run of the Miami/New England game on the NFL channel. I used to be in charge of the remote control.......

Forget boobs, long legs, or smalls of the back. There's nothing sexier than listening to suzie kolber or T9 talking X's & O's. Now if we could only watch as the girls diagram/break down film w/ the telestrater...

Thanks for the huge complement SiC.Coulda shoulda woulda been a sports reporter had I known better!

Speaking of...Jim Carty has a piece in today's A2 news which I found slightly bizarre. He too talked about the human side of all these firings, but the necessary reality of it (I SWEAR the guy steals our stuff, that or we all should be getting paid!!) but then he makes it personal and talks obtusely about some of the folks whom he won't miss but wishes well anyway.....

UH, hey, JIMBO?NOT ABOUT YOU, BUDDY.

Gawd he incenses me....write 'em a letter, or pick up the phone and call them but don't use your column as a platform for your egocentric shit...oh, wait, it's Jim Carty--what was I thinking??

T9, you don't have to do math, you had me at "I-back set:". lol. And Carty has an ego, but he's a columnist not an indifferent vessel delivering facts. At least he's no Drew Sharp.

Katie, I don't understand why everyone freaked about the BTN- (I have a tremendous "societal theory" about it, but that's for later days.) The coverage is great. You can flip back and forth between every game in the big 10 (and so can recruits) so it makes for a more knowledgeable football fan and a more well-informed recruit. They have a hot sideline reporter (though she'll never overtake girl next door hottie Erin Andrews) who is destined to be involved in the next Rich Eisen bikini email scandal. They have entire shows devoted to Big ten sports. In the off season you can see Wolverines basketball games that would never be shown on tv otherwise, and can someone please tell me the last time they were able to watch a Wolverine baseball game without being in A2? Try never.

Plus, Dish and Direct tv are less expensive than Comcast (yes, you have to sign a contract, but you also do that with a phone. Since I'm the only person any of you know who's recently sold everything they own and moved to a tropical island I don't see this being a problem for you.) Internat access can be handled easily via a cell carrier for the same amount. Weather interruptions: they are extremely rare anymore, the technology is light years ahead of where it was 5 years ago, as with anything. So I just never got the big uproar. I know in your case you had to have a large amount of insurance, but I think if you rent you'd find it costing about $15 a month and it's something you shouldn't be without anyway.

The real issue is Comcast wanting all the extra money for when the SEC, Big 12, Pac-10 and everyone else follows suit. It's precedent.

So anyway, I'm glad you like it. Consider yourself enlightened. So many people have made a judgment based on what they hear in the media, and that drives me nuts. Think for yourselves people!

Joshua, I have hated Comcast for a long time, long before the Big Ten Network, so I have always laid more blame on Comcast in this whole fiasco.

As for the Insurance (are you the one that sells insurance?) I do have renters insurance, it costs me $35 a month however, maybe I do need to call whoever it was that sells insurance, and that is mandatory to live in my complex. They said that in addition to that, I also needed to have additional insurance to have a dish. There is not one dish at this complex, so I am assuming that it just is not feasible. I am assuming that the insurance is for major property damage if say, Lightening should strike the dish?? I really have no clue, I just know I am stuck with Comcast and not too happy about it.

check out the new report on ESPNhttp://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3165853

seems along with exercise equipment ol' cheaty pants takes his players on trips as well, based on his good intentions and understanding of the rules.

SERIOUSLY???Is Tressel an idiot that he doesn't understand the NCAA RULES?or does he just ignore them?or is someone giving him really bad advice???or just he just not bother to check?I mean REALLYNCAA compliance is the #1 thing that schools talk about.witness the guide that comes with our football tix.witness the multitude of classes/seminars the athletes have to takewitness the previous debacle with rules, the NCAA, and tOSUs basketball team.You'd think that they'd have some snoop-dog all over this down there.

T9, you really need to learn how to form an opinion. Such a wilting flower that one.

Ok, and not to beat a dead horse, but well, damn, i'm gonna beat it! I have a source i would trust to marry my sister who says Les is pissed. Apparently he told Martin he'd take the job after their bowl game.

Yes, I know, we have a coach,(btw Source says he'd bet NC for us within 5 yrs. Loves the hire.) but this is for shits and giggles, so whatever. Two scenarios play out here: If R2 somehow lays a massive egg and gets fired inside of 5 years there will be no search, it'll be Les. (Provided he doesn't lay an egg as well during that time). OR: Les regrets this decision until the day he dies. He had his chance at his dream job and blew it. Interesting either way.

My bet is that MSC told Les to take a leap after he pulled all that news conference crap in the middle of negotiations. INTEGRITY issue. How can you trust a guy who is talking up a huge storm about how he wants to be here, sending emmisaries, working numbers etc on the one hand and then publically, um, for lack of a better term, lying on the other????

that doesn't fly with MSC. No amount of begging by Les would have changed her mind.

Hmm, the replay of the interview from a few years ago? That's my entire basis for the idea Tom'll be president some day. If it's a new one, well, sweet. I'll have to call my friend who turned him down in school because he was "cocky" and let her know. She's never gonna live that one down.

As for Barbaro, word is he thought they had a deal and was blindsided by the R2 hiring. Don't really care much anymore (b/c Ninja Football's here bitches!!!!), but it's interesting to me- both as a writer and just as a curious person- the way we live our lives and the consequences of choices we make.

Ol' J.T. is a real criminal. His biggest crime is encouraging young people for doing well. Hang him. We can't have any of that going on.

So, he's on the lookout for donors. I think we've already established the fact that college football is a business. I'd be disappointed if he wasn't keeping his ear to the ground (weren't there some issues about donors, etc. surrounding RR's flight from Morgantown?).

You want to argue that he should know better? Go for it. Not much mileage in that debate. Everyone should know better.

Maybe he does know better and doesn't care. That would be interesting.

Maybe he’s just stupid. Yeah, go with that one…

I sure don't know what he thinks or how he views the tension between taking care of his people and walking the tightrope the NCAA puts out there.

Maybe he's just a gambler and plays the "it's easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission card" knowing it’s not worth the NCAA’s time to investigate and he accomplishes his mission. The real skill there is knowing how often you can play that card.

If he gets the University in trouble I'm sure he'll suffer for his actions and as a bonus you all can break out the torches and pitchforks. Until then, I would recommend keeping an eye on your new coach and his hillbilly buds. Talking too boldly can backfire. Even Rachel Ray can't make crow taste good.

You already know my take on college coaching and the job they have. Thought the idea was a good one, rewarding academics. Wish I would get a trip for coloring inside the lines!! (Ok, couldn't resist) Seems everyones just a bit testy around here lately- pre-holiday stress or what?

KATIE!!!! LISTEN TO ME KATIE. TURN THE TV OFF. THAT GAME WILL ROT YOUR SOUL KATIE. JUST REACH OUT AND TURN IT OFF. WALK TOWRDS THE LIGHT KATIE. USE THE REMOTE IF YOU MUST. JUST DO IT KATE *sobs* WE KNOW YOU CAN..........KATIE? NOOOOOOOoooo!

Whoa, you might be right Joshua, it was all good until about mid way through the 2nd quarter, I remember what happened prior to halftime.......do I want to relive the last 51 seconds of this half? I feel the life being sucked out of me.........

Found something I figured fellow UM fans would get a huge kick out of. I hate Notre Lame as much as the next guy, but this takes the cake. Check out this shirt at http://www.wideleftwear.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=ND%2D3OUT

I suppose his priorities and discipline philosophy are different than other programs. If he's as bad as some say, I would think someone from the NCAA would be watching his every move.

If he plays with too much fire he'll get burned and that's the way it should be. You play you pay. I'm not here to excuse his actions. As I made plain, I have no idea how he thinks or does what he does.

I think I react to what appears to me to be outright irrational hatred for the man. I just don't understand that mentality.

I'll pick on Mikey for his big mouth, but I sure as hell don't hate him and never will.

Life's too short to blow an artery over this stuff. I think I'll just avoid this subject from now on. No joy.

Whets, You are a good man. I think sometimes college football brings out deep passion in people. Certainly hating anyone is not a good thing to do. I do value integrity to a large degree, so to know that some one seemingly intentionally rides the line on rules to see just how far he can push it, with whatever good motives he may or may not have, it is slightly irritating. I hope beyond hope that R2 has integrity about these things, I do not want to see it happening at Michigan. I understand though what is under your skin about this, and I think you are right to a large degree. You are a good voice of reason often! Merry Christmas to you and your family!

1st, having 3 kids between 13 & 16, the word "sucked" gets used a lot. it doesn't carry the same level "harshness" or condemnation for me (or most anyone under 20) than it may for others, particularly those more grown up.

2nd, switzer's tosu teams have had multiple ncaa problems w/ claret, smith, and now this. lauding the integrity, honesty, and moral fiber of somebody who has an obvious issue w/ following rules that everyone else follows? not likely to garner a friendly reaction. most people would find the two positions contradictory. tosu fans don't. that's their issue.

3rd, no one, especially myself, is blowing any artery, but i appreciate the concern. as mentioned, saying something "sucked" is simply saying it's wrong or incorrect.

it's your inalienable right as an american, and a tosu fan, to suck. actually, we michigan fans expect it from tosu fans.

SIC, Indeed, "suck" has a much different meaning in today's world than it did in "our generation". Even the F bomb is far more acceptable today than it was "back in the day". I always enjoy your take on things, Merry Christmas to you and your family as well, oh, and the puppy too! (I am so glad you have kept him, I just want to rub noses with him every time I see your post!

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